


The Conqueror

by fairyplumprincess



Series: Sweet Sinner [11]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Child Death, Coping, Grief/Mourning, Guilt, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Rain, Secret Relationship, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:07:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25195153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fairyplumprincess/pseuds/fairyplumprincess
Summary: Roman needs a distraction, but all he gets are more answers.Patton's guilt had been gnawing on him more than usual recently, and it is about to increase tenfold.
Relationships: Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders
Series: Sweet Sinner [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1694095
Comments: 6
Kudos: 37





	The Conqueror

**Author's Note:**

> Whaaaattt??? Two update within a few hours of each other??? Holy shit, right?  
> This was supposed to be a cute little fic to cut through the angst, but a wonderful user under the pseud Saleme had commented something two parts ago and I couldn't let it not inspire this piece

Even at 6pm, it was dark. The harsh rain pelting against the window made it difficult to see outside, and probably made the roads difficult to drive through.

Patton stared out of his window as he drank lemon tea, wishing the rain would let up, just a little, so he could invite someone over. The heat from his mug could almost replace the warmth of another person, but it wasn’t enough for him.

His apartment had been unnaturally cold recently, and he knew exactly why. But there was nothing he could do now - beyond watching the rain fall since he already graded all of the papers he needed to and finished his lesson plans into the next week.

There was a knock at his front door, and Patton yelped as the tea spilled over the edge of his cup from turning too excitedly.

Patton swiftly made his way down the stairs, more than eager to be near another person, and more importantly, get them out of the rain. He swung open the door and froze in the doorway.

“Pat?” Roman asked, drenched from aforementioned rain. His button down clung onto his skin similarly to how his bangs did to his forehead. “Can I come in?”

“Of course!” Patton stepped to the side so Roman could come in. “You must be freezing.”

“I am, actually.” Roman chuckled as he took off his shoes in the familiar apartment. “I know I should’ve called first but I needed somewhere to go that wasn’t my own.”

Patton frowned as he closed the door, taking in Roman’s form. “You’re always welcome here, Roman.”

Roman threw himself into Patton’s chest, hands latching onto his back desperately. Patton gasped before instinctively cradling Roman’s head and rubbing circles into his back.

Roman was shaking, both from the cold and tears that were threatening to spill over again.

“Let’s get you a change of clothes, yeah?” Patton suggested, making no move away from Roman. “We can watch Steven Universe.”

“I’ve missed you, Pat.” Roman croaked, pressing his body against the warmth of Patton. “So much has happened and I feel so guilty about everything and especially because all this time, I’ve just wanted to be with you.”

“Do you wanna talk about it?” Patton asked before kissing the top of Roman’s head, gut turning at how desperate he sounded.

When Roman nodded wordlessly, Patton led them both upstairs to his bedroom to get Roman a change of clothes.

After getting changed into Patton’s tattered college sweatshirt, Roman laid down on Patton’s bed. Patton frowned at how upset the college student looked.

Patton crawled in next to him and held an arm up, inviting Roman to snuggle beside him. Once Roman curled into his chest, Patton wrapped it protectively against him.

“Sweet prince, how can I help you right now?” Patton whispered as if speaking too loud would send Roman running.

“Can you tell me I’m a good person?” Roman asked weakly.

“My dearest, you are the best person I know.” Patton grumbled with a kiss to Roman’s nose. “You are the most driven, caring, and talented person I know. What could ever make you question that?”

“My little brother.”

“Remus? No, honey, that was my fault, not yours.” Patton started, “I shouldn’t have engaged with you like that when I was taken. You are not the villain there.”

“No, not my twin brother.” Roman sat up, curling against himself. “I mean Reina. We found another suicide note, specifically addressed to us two. Reina was actually Romulus, and killed himself because he was trans.”

Patton sat up immediately after hearing ‘Romulus.’ “That is not your fault, Roman. You didn’t know, and I know you did everything you could to save your Dragonfly.”

“The only person who knew Romulus was trans was the bastard who raped him.” Roman whimpered, pulling his knees closer to his chest. “All this time, Abel was walking around free after what he did to him. Hell, I even _taught_ him, and I didn’t know. He would always ask about him and refer to him as a male in front of us to taunt the fact that he knew.”

“Abel? Abel Cain?” Patton asked, stomach dropping.

“Yes! I found the suicide note in an old book of mine. It’s been sitting there, waiting to be seen for _four years_ and I was — wait.” Roman stopped himself, turning to Patton. “How did you know exactly who I was talking about?”

“He was in my creative writing class a bit ago.” Patton stood up, running to his laptop. “He wrote a story called The Conqueror, and it was about a rape of a male named Romulus but written in the viewpoint of the rapist. I reported it and called home, but they told me there was nothing I could do.”

“What are you doing?” Roman asked as he walked over to where Patton was furiously logging into his computer.

“I scanned the document onto my school hard drive in order to put in the official complaint. The office told me that he would be sent to an advisor to talk about his sinful thoughts, but since he never admitted that it was based on his own life, we couldn’t prove it.” Patton replied, getting more frustrated on how slow his computer was working.

“You knew?” Roman asked, taking a step away.

“I knew something was wrong when I was reading it, but every time I asked, he insisted it was based on Romulus in roman mythology. Something about taking down the high and mighty who thought they were better than others for being a king.” Patton replied, hurriedly going into his scanned documents. “The emails get wiped out at the end of the year, so I don’t have the conversation I had with the old office people or his parents, but I saved the document. Right here!”

As Patton clicked into the document, a pop up stating that the file had been deleted by the owner of the server.

“They were covering it up.” Roman whispered, dropping to his knees. “They knew and they covered it up.”

“Roman, I didn’t know it was about your brother.” Patton defended, quickly spinning in his chair to face him. “I wanted to find out who it was about so badly, but no one ever came forward.”

“It’s not your fault, it’s mine.” Roman gasped out, suddenly feeling like he couldn’t breathe. “Oh my god, it’s mine. If I had just looked sooner, I would’ve been able to get those emails and press charges and oh my god it’s all my fault-“

“It’s not, Roman. It’s not. It never was.” Patton reassured, dropping onto the floor in front of him. “Can you breathe with me?”

After a number of tries, Roman was finally back to a regular breathing rate despite the tears still falling.

“I love you, Roman. I’m sorry you’re going through this. None of this is your fault.” Patton soothingly reassured, gently stroking his cheek and wiping away tears as they came down.

“Can we lay on your bed and rest for a bit?” Roman asked, bloodshot eyes fighting to stay open.

“Of course. Anything you want.” Patton helped Roman to his feet and practically carried him onto the bed. When they two got comfortable with Roman as the little spoon, Patton turned on the TV to play Office reruns for a distraction.

“You have nothing to feel guilty about.” Patton reassured one last time, hugging Roman a little closer to him.

“The same goes to you, Patton.” Roman replied, turning and kissing his cheek before settling down on the pillow again.

Neither really took the other’s words to heart, though.

**Author's Note:**

> I...
> 
> I have nothing to say for myself


End file.
